17-letter words containing t, h, a, l
- as the crow flies — If you say that a place is a particular distance away as the crow flies, you mean that it is that distance away measured in a straight line.
- ashton-under-lyne — a town in NW England, in Tameside unitary authority, Greater Manchester. Pop: 43 236 (2001)
- athlete's village — an area of accommodation for competitors taking part in a sports event
- australopithecine — any of various extinct apelike primates of the genus Australopithecus and related genera, remains of which have been discovered in southern and E Africa. Some species are estimated to be over 4.5 million years old
- authority control — the establishment and maintainance of consistent forms of terms, as of names, subjects, and titles, to be used as headings in bibliographic records.
- baby doll nightie — a short, frilly nightdress
- bachelor's button — any of several plants of a genus (Centaurea) of the composite family, that have scaly, vase-shaped bracts below the white, pink, or blue flowers; esp., the cornflower and knapweed
- bachelor's-button — any of various plants with round flower heads, especially the cornflower.
- back on the rails — If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed.
- baile atha cliath — Dublin
- baile-atha-cliath — Gaelic Baile Àtha Cliath. a seaport in and the capital of the Republic of Ireland, in the E part, on the Irish Sea.
- balance the books — do accounting
- bald-faced hornet — any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro (giant hornet) introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata (bald-faced hornet or white-faced hornet) of North America.
- bartholin's gland — either of two small glands near the vaginal opening: during sexual excitement they secrete a mucous lubricating substance
- basal anaesthesia — preliminary and incomplete anaesthesia induced to prepare a surgical patient for total anaesthesia with another agent
- bell-hanger's bit — a bit for drilling small holes through studs or the like.
- biological father — the man whose semen fertilized the ovum from which a child was born
- biological mother — the mother who gave birth to a child
- biological rhythm — biorhythm.
- biopharmaceutical — of or relating to drugs produced using biotechnology
- blackcurrant bush — a bush of the blackcurrant plant
- blood and thunder — A blood and thunder performer or performance is very loud and emotional.
- blood-and-thunder — sensationalism, violence, or exaggerated melodrama: a movie full of blood and thunder.
- blow hot and cold — to vacillate
- boat-billed heron — a nocturnal, tropical American wading bird (Cochlearius cochlearius) with a large, broad bill: it is the only member of a family (Cochleariidae) of wading birds
- boothia peninsula — a peninsula of N Canada: the northernmost part of the mainland of North America, lying west of the Gulf of Boothia, an arm of the Arctic Ocean
- bottlebrush grass — a North American grass, Hystrix patula, having loose flower spikes with long awns.
- branch delay slot — delayed control-transfer
- brazilian rhatany — See under rhatany (def 1).
- breathe life into — revive, rejuvenate
- british columbian — of or relating to British Columbia or its inhabitants
- british israelite — a member of a religious movement claiming that the British people are descended from the lost tribes of Israel
- bushman's singlet — a sleeveless heavy black woollen singlet, used as working clothing by timber fellers
- calcium phosphate — the insoluble nonacid calcium salt of orthophosphoric acid (phosphoric(V) acid): it occurs in bones and is the main constituent of bone ash. Formula: Ca3(PO4)2
- called to the bar — admitted to the practice of law as a barrister
- castle in the air — a hope or desire unlikely to be realized; daydream
- catapult-launched — (of aircraft) launched into the air by a device installed in warships
- cathedral ceiling — a high ceiling formed by or suggesting an open-timbered roof.
- catholic epistles — the epistles of James, I and II Peter, I John, and Jude, which were addressed to the universal Church rather than to an individual or a particular church
- caudal anesthesia — anesthesia below the pelvis, induced by injecting an anesthetic into the sacral portion of the spinal canal.
- celestial horizon — the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.
- characterlessness — The state or condition of being characterless; lack of character.
- characterological — of or relating to character or the study of character
- charles the great — ("Charles the Great") a.d. 742–814, king of the Franks 768–814; as Charles I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 800–814.
- charles townshend — Charles, 1725–67, English politician, chancellor of the exchequer for whom the Townshend Acts are named.
- checkable deposit — a checking account
- chemical equation — a representation of a chemical reaction using symbols of the elements to indicate the amount of substance, usually in moles, of each reactant and product
- chemical property — Chemistry. a property or characteristic of a substance that is observed during a reaction in which the chemical composition or identity of the substance is changed: Combustibility is an important chemical property to consider when choosing building materials.
- chemical reaction — a process that involves changes in the structure and energy content of atoms, molecules, or ions but not their nuclei
- chemopallidectomy — an operation for treating Parkinson's disease and certain other diseases characterized by muscular rigidity, consisting of destroying a specific part of the corpus striatum by injecting it with a chemical, usually alcohol.